Frugal, thrifty, make do, mend! Let this debt come to an end!

Elisheba

Morning all, 

Happy Wednesday, frugal fighters! In good news there has been no more blood in the cats poo, so I'm holding off on panicking just yet. Both of them are eating well and seem fairly energetic, but I am keeping a beady eye on them.

Hairwise, the semi perm platinum toner I bought which promised to get rid of brassy tubes made no difference at all. Think I'll need to use as Ash blonde permanant dye. I'm getting more used to it now at least.

Spending wise I have ordered my mum a birthday present thus week which is budgeted for, and had to buy a new moisturiser which wasn't budgeted for. My last one lasted almost 2 years and I got a couple of pounds off with subscribe and save on Amazon.

Other than that it's just been work and reading mainly. I had a physio appointment yesterday - it was just with a student and she's given me some stretching and strengthening exercises. I'll need to put reminders into my phone to do them. I've had them before and I didn't notice them making much difference, but I've got a follow up in 3 weeks so if I give them an honest try I can go back and say they aren't working, or maybe they will help which would certainly be good. 

Hope everyone had decent Wednesday's, and enoys the fact the upcoming weekend will soon be closer that the one we have left behind 😁

Elisheba

Oopsy! I've had a bit of a spendy morning. I decided I absolutely must have some tights if I am going to bring all my dresses back into use for Spring. Normal tights are pretty hopeless though so I went on the Snag website which has been highly recommended to me by several friends.

I didn't really want normal nylon, so I've ordered 3 pairs of merino wool tights which were more than double the price 😳. Still, they are made to be worn lots if I look after them. If my dog does snag them I should be able to mend them, and they'll be warm in winter and airy in Spring and Autumn. I've ordered black, blue, and a not quite skin tone, so fingers crossed I like them and they fit as well as advertised.

Then, on my lunchtime walk with my dog, I made the mistake of popping into Waitrose while hungry. I've bought 2 Charlie Bingham curries, a pizza, a Higgeldy pie, a cherry and almond tart, bake later cinnamon swirls, some fancy hot criss bins  and some pain au chocolate. Everything was reduced and it came to about £20. It's not exactly moneysaving, but there are 4 meals and quite a lot of puddings there, and its all nice stuff, so a bit of a treat and cheaper than takeaway. 

Cheery_Daff

Definitely a win I'd say! 

I love my snag tights 😊 They're nylon ones though, not wool. I'd never go back to any others now. I've just got a couple of black pairs, but might go for something more exciting next winter if I get back into wearing skirts again. I used to love multi coloured tights!

foxgloves

Another vote here for Snag tights. I like the 80 denier ones & have them in black, grey & bright purple. I've got some that are on their 3rd winter, so they last well.
F

SuzeQStan

Waitrose haul sounds delicious Elisheba! I’ve had all the higgledy pies & CB curries when Ocado has special offers on (I never entertain Ocado unless they are on combined offer &  30% off min plus free delivery) so am most jealous - the par bake cinnamon rolls! My belly is proper rumbling!  Enjoy 👍🏻😊

Elisheba

Good evening my thrifty friends,

Got a few days to wait for my tights to be delivered @foxgloves and @Cheery_Daff as I was only willing to pay for basic delivery. I got 10% off the tights as I bought 3 pairs, so that covered the delivery costs. Very excited to try them on!

I've not looked into Ocado deliveries and their special offers @SuzeQStan but that sound like great value. I'll have to have a look!

A few little spends today. Bought some soft bobbles on Amazon as all mine seem to have disappeared - I swear the Borrowers take them. Hopefully these ones won't catch my hair either, as I seem to end up having to rip or cut out my current ones half the time 🙄. 

Also popped into Iceland on my lunchtime dog walk and bought some diluting juice, and spreadable butter. I was very restrained and didn't look at anything else! 

I've had a look at my energy and I'm at £135 for the month so far. Last month was £184, and January's was £203, so since I'm not putting my heating on much at the moment it looks like this month will come in at less. Although I've upped my DD to £120, they only take off the extra after the £66, so I'll end up owing them money. It should all even out over the summer though, and I put my usage into the calculator on this site and my DD is about right. I'll do my own sums when I get a chance and maybe up the DD a bit to build up a bit of leeway.

Dinner today was one of the CB curries. I think I got a bit muddled. It said two portions, and there were 2 containers - so I had one yesterday, and one today. However, I think I was supposed to cook both at once, and have half from each container together 😂. So I ended up having just cauliflower and paneer curry yesterday, and just chickpea and lentil dhal today! Oh well, they were both excellent. By far the nicest ready meal I've had. Shame they are SO expensive and don't freeze. 

I've been thinking about hobbies and being more creative. I think I could take up journalling for very little outlay, just a nice plain journal and some stickers. I have colouring pencils, although I cannot find my fountain pen for love nor money. 🙄.

Other things I was thinking about are getting more into herbal medicine (I already have a few books), card making (might prove pricey), getting back into knitting and crochet, seeing what plants I can grow indoors and in pots outside, maybe drying some flowers and being a bit arty with them. It's about finding things that I can be bothered doing in the evenings, when to be honest I never feel like doing very much at all. 

I started an L M Montgomery book yesterday on my Kindle that I didn't think I'd read, but I must have as it's very familiar to me so far. Not that it matters - I love L M Montgomery books, and find them a real balm to the soul. I spent most of my childhood and teenage years dreaming of Prince Edward Island and longing for kindred spirits when I wasn't wishing I lived on Middle Earth 😊. 

Oh, another thing which I am doing since I have a month's free Amazon Music is to pick an album I don't know a week, and just listen to it on repeat while I am working. When we were younger that's what we would do and we really got to know them. Nowadays with online music I just tend to listen to songs I know. So I thought this would be a good way to learn an album. I figure eventually I'll learn it if it's on repeat fur a week, even if I'm not paying much attention when I'm working. This week's album is Central Reservation by Beth Orton (circa about 1999, so I'm not exactly learning new, new music here 😂).

Office day tomorrow, and we are going on our annual walk and then lunch, so I won't bother packing anything except a flask of coffee for the train. The weather forecast looks very wet, so we shall all be steaming dry when we get back to the office! 

Not sure of my weekend plans yet, but I can have a think and write it all down in my next post.

Hope everyone has a wonderful night's sleep, and wakes up raring to go tomorrow 😁. 

SuzeQStan

Listening to WHOLE ALBUMS! Oh my when you said that I swear had an instant flashback to listening to Frankie Goes to Hollywood Welcome to the Pleasuredome as a 17year old exchange student in Germany. On infinite repeat - I know the order of the songs - even the covers - to this day.

The absolute revelation of listening to the whole album - instead of only getting to hear the one or two songs that sell the most.  It felt like opening up a secret garden. 

I’m up for some new music too - thanks for the idea Elisheba - hope you have a good rest cos it’s Friiiiidaaaaaaaay tmoz - weekend beckons!🍹🍸🪵🔥

WinterWarrior

Oh, whole albums! Preferably with all the lyrics on the sleeve so we can sing along! 

angela110660

ABC Lexicon of Love - did my ironing to it every week - know it completely!!! 

Elisheba

Afternoon, all,

Glad I have inspired a few of you with the idea of listening to whole albums at a time again  .

Trying to remember what happened over the weekend - Friday was fairly spendy, with lunch out with work, and a few drinks out afterwards as well.  Saturday was a quiet one, where I got a few house things done and then I mainly read.  Sunday I had a shared lunch with Quakers which was lovely, and then popped into The Works to buy some journaling bits, and a charity shop where I was delighted to get 4 hardbacks for £2.  They had the new Richard Osman mystery (I've been waiting forever for it from the library), and 2 facsimiles of war manuals, and one war diary.  I'm more interested in the social history of the Homefront than actual WW1 or WW2, but the books look interesting.

Yesterday I got my journal started, and made an old plastic chocolate tin pretty, so that as quite fun.  I'll need to make some time for journaling most days and see how it goes.  I have a feeling that the scrap-booking/junk journal may end up separate from an actual journal recording events etc.

I have a vet's appointment for my dog later to get his vaccinations - which I forgot to put in my s/s - oops.  Since swimming is still ongoing  I really do need to decide what to do about joining.  Some investigation has revealed I can get a swimming membership for £25 a month DD, a full membership for £38 a month DD, or full membership (pay upfront for a year) for £380.  I really do love using the jacuzzi, and I might do a yoga class so I'm thinking getting the 12 months upfront.  It works out about £31.70 a month. I should probably decide today as I'm swimming tomorrow, and all my bills come out tomorrow, so this is the time of month it makes more sense for me to join.

I think I am going to book the two Easter weeks off, and instead of going car camping do day trips instead.  It still quite chilly for camping, and I haven't bought the tent, so with having bought the dishwasher and paying for swimming up front I don't really want to cough up anymore money just now.  I can do a day trip to London and see Churchill's War Rooms, which I have wanted to see for ages but no-one wanted to go with me, and visit a few local towns I haven't seen.  It shouold all be quite fun once I have made up a proper plan, and with flasks of coffee and packed lunches most of it will be very reasonable financially.

I have deleted my card from Amazon - its just too easy to buy on impulse with it on there.  I've also deleted my nicotine patch subscription as I think I am allergic, and its getting worse.  Very itchy and leaves my skins sore for longer and longer.  I thought I could buy something else, but I haven't used them yesterday or today and haven't noticed any difference.  Very strange. Maybe this allergy stopped me absorbing much nicotine and I went through withdrawal ages ago  .

I hope everyone had a fab weekend, and that this week looks full of fun and adventure for you!